Officials want to track progress of former inmates

Lake County officials plan to develop a program that will allow them to keep tabs on the progress of certain Lake County Jail inmates.

At a recent meeting of the county's Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, there was a discussion of the many educational and social skills programs available at the jail.

Rick Riddle, jail program director, said that it was unfortunate there isn't a way to gauge how effective the programming is once a person is released from custody.

But Adult Probation Director Frank Kuzmickus suggested that there may be a way to find out if a person who leaves the jail with a period of probation is following up on a program started behind bars.

"If, for instance, a person was in a substance abuse program in the jail, we could find out if he stays in one while on probation," Kuzmickus said. "A probation officer could review the programs a person was in while in jail and find equivalent programs on the outside."

The committee decided to study methods for the jail and probation department to share tracking information and develop a system.

Judge shuffle:ŒA number of associate judges are starting new assignments today.

Judge Victoria Martin is moving from C 301 to take over Round Lake Beach traffic court from Judge Veronica O'Malley, who is moving to the Mundelein branch.

Judge Daniel Shanes moves from Mundelein to bond court in Waukegan, replacing Judge Theodore Potkionjak, who is becoming an all-purpose backup judge.

Judge Joseph Waldek is trading the backup position for domestic violence court, and Judge Nancy Waites is going from domestic violence to juvenile.

Judge Raymond Collins moves from juvenile to small claims, and Judge Helen Rozenberg leaves small claims to replace Martin in C 301.

Employees honored: A number of employees have recently been honored for their service to the 19th Judicial Circuit.

Cheryl Shearer, a probation officer for 30 years, was named the recipient of the Lawrence Bonds Officer of the Year award for her professionalism and competence.

The Kay Finn and Sarah Anderson Exceptional Employee Award was presented to Beverly Karpan, a human resource staff member.

Information specialist Winnie Webber was named the recipient of the Leadership and Excellence Award.

Employee of the Year honors went to Arminda Badgerow, executive secretary of the judicial operations unit.